Other Resources

Music by living composers at the BBC Proms continues in August with performances of Robin Holloway’s Fifth Concerto for Orchestra (4th Aug), Gabriel Prokofiev’s Concerto for Turntables and Orchestra (6th Aug), Joby Talbot’s Chacony in G Minor (14th Aug), Georges Aperghis’s Champ-Contrechamp (20th August), Stevie Wishart’s Out of the World (27th Aug) and a series of concerts that include the music of Dutilleux (3rd, 13th, 22nd and 23rd August). If you are near the Bregenz Festival, you may also be able to pick up tickets for Judith Weir’s Blonde Eckbert (6th August). The Schleswig-Holstein Festival also continues until 28th August, with some concerts featuring contemporary music and jazz.

The Edinburgh Festival gets underway on 12th August. Contemporary music featured at the festival includes an all Jonathan Harvey concert (13th Aug), Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes (15th Aug), Tan Dun’s Water Concerto (16th Aug), Unsuk Chin’s Fantaisie Mécanique (18th Aug) and Concerto for Sheng and Orchestra (24th Aug), the world première of Toshio Hosokawa’s Blossoming II (21st Aug) and (not a première) Blossoming (1st September), Anders Hillborg’s Cold Heat (29th Aug) and Dai Fujikura’s String Quartet No.2 (1st September). There is also the chance to hear Philip Glass and his ensemble perform music to the visionary films of Godfrey Reggio (13th, 14th and 15th Aug).

The innovative and exciting Tête à Tête Opera Festival gets going on 4th August and might just be this month’s best new music ticket. The festival, which focuses entirely on contemporary music, features 40 different productions that include the work of 52 different composers. Productions that caught my eye include: Fables – A Film Operawith music by Emily Hall, Paul Sartin and Andy Mellon (4th and 5th August); SensoryO by Rachel Drury (13th and 14th August), which is aimed at children between 18 and 36 months;Brunch by Max Charles Davies (7th August), a flash opera that will also be performed unannounced throughout the festival; and The North Wind was a Woman (18th August), a collection of songs by C:T founder David Bruce. The full programme may be found here.